"DIONE "WAS AN ANCIENT CRETAN GODDESS OF WATER, FERTILITY, AND DIVINATION. SHE IS A MYSTERIOUS FIGURE IN GREEK MYTHOLOGY FOR LITTLE WAS WRITTEN ABOUT HER IN EARLY LITERATURE. IT IS SAID BY SOME THAT SHE WAS ONE OF THE EARLIEST TITANS AND THE DAUGHTER OF "GAIA" AND "OURANOS. " HER NAME LITERALLY MEANS "GODDESS". IN LATER GREEK LEGEND, "DIONE" IS AN "OCEANID," DAUGHTER OF THE OCEAN, THE CONSORT OF "ZEUS", AND THE MOTHER OF "APHRODITE".

Aphrodite threw herself into her mother's lap,

divine Dione, who took her daughter in her arms,

stroked her with her hand, then said:"My dear child,

which of the heavenly gods has done this,

acted so brazenly against you, as if

you'd done something evil in broad daylight?"

--Homer, Iliad--

OTHERS CLAIM THAT "DIONE" WAS AN EARTH AND MOTHER GODDESS WITH A BACKGROUND SIMILAR TO THAT OF "DEMETER". SHE WAS ADORED AT THE ORACULAR SHRINE OF "DADON"A IN "PELASGIAN," GREECE WHERE "DANAAN" PRIESTESSES WORSHIPPED "OAKS "AS MANIFESTATIONS OF THE "GODDESS DIONE..."UNTIL, BY COMMAND OF AN ORACLE," ZEUS" WAS INTRODUCED, WHEN, FOR A TIME, BOTH DIVINITIES WERE WORSHIPPED CONJOINTLY, AND BOTH THEIR EFFIGIES APPEARED ON GREEK COINS. BUT EVENTUALLY" DIONE" WAS ALL BUT FORGOTTEN.

TODAY, "DIONE" IS A MOON OF "SATURN" DISCOVERED BY GIOVANNI CASSINI IN 1684.